


Robots In Love

by Telas_Selar



Category: Almost Human (TV)
Genre: 1×12 "Beholder" AU, Alcoholism, Amputee main character, Angst, Canon Divergence, Concerned Boyfriend Dorian, Disassociation, Established Jorian, Gay John Kennex, Kissing, Lowkey Suicidal John, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Pansexual Dorian, Suicide attempt (sort of?), Valerie is a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 19:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19258048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telas_Selar/pseuds/Telas_Selar
Summary: After witnessing a suspect's suicide, John spirals. Concerned, Dorian and Valerie track him down in an attempt to prevent a second tragedy.





	Robots In Love

"Do you want me to go to a bar with you and watch you drink?" Dorian asked, ready to resign himself to a night of seven-drink-John, but the detective wasn't really paying attention. He was slightly pale and his hands shook as he stood there, staring blankly at the monitor. Chances were, he wasn't even seeing it. 

"John?" The DRN repeated urgently, but it took a few more tries to jolt John out of his reverie. 

"Yeah, sorry." 

Dorian frowned a bit, scanning his partner's vitals almost out of habit as John grabbed his jacket off the desk. 

"Are you sure you're alright? What you saw tonight must have had an impac-" 

"I'm fine" John cut in. "Anyway, what were you saying before? I…didn't quite catch it." 

"I was wondering if you wanted me to join you for a drink."

The words seemed to blur, distorting when John tried to make sense of them and he sighed. 

"No it's..alright. It got weird last time. You go on home, I'll be there in a bit."

Dorian stared at him for about a minute before gently reaching out, brushing John's lips with his thumb before he kissed him. 

"Be careful, John" was all he could think of saying. 

"Yeah, sure." The detective kissed him back, but it was more mechanical than passionate- a sign that something was definitely wrong. John was grumpy as hell, but his affection for his synthetic partner was usually extremely genuine. 

Dorian watched him walk out before bringing up his vitals on a holoscreen. 

"High adrenaline levels, low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat…" the DRN read. "Oh John, what's going on with you?" 

"Hey Dorian" Valerie paused on her way out at the concerned look on the synthetic's face. "Is...everything alright? You look worried."

"It's John...I doubt that was the first suicide he's witnessed but..something's off with him."

Valerie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned in, looking over the screen. 

"Are these his vitals?" 

"Yes. Yes, they are." 

She turned back to the DRN, her concerned expression matching his. 

"Where's John now?" 

"A bar.. He told me not to wait for him."

The detective sat down at John's station, quickly comparing her own vitals with his before pushing the holoscreen away. 

"Can you track his location?" 

"Yes, of course, but why?" 

"Because I really don't think he's at a bar."

 

-

John leaned over the stone ledge, the lights of the passing cars far below like tiny multicoloured orbs. 

His pulse throbbed irritatingly behind his temples and he closed his eyes for a moment, shivering despite the warm night air as the memory of just an hour ago flashed through his mind. 

_"Eric, it doesn't have to end this way!"_

_The man on the ledge stepped out further, watching John slowly lower the gun in his hands. His gaze was full of misery, rather than regret, but his mind had been made up._

_"What's your name?" He inquired._

_"John."_

_"Have you ever been loved, John?"_

_The detective thought only for a split second of Dorian, his smile, the light-hearted banter they shared. His lips and his warmth. His stubborn, beautiful heart._

_"I have" John responded._

_"Then you wouldn't understand."_

_Before he could stop him, the man had leaned back and taken the dive._

_Fear and guilt and regret and self-hatred tore at the detective's mind as he rushed over to the ledge, looking down at the broken body below, lying in a pool of blood._

_Even as Dorian joined him, the numbness had already began to spread through John's body and mind._

The flask slipped a little in John's grip and he swore, putting it down. No amount of vodka would allow him to unsee that. The sheer desperation in the suspect's eyes, the way he'd jumped off that ledge…John had seen suicides before, certainly, but this one..this one felt different. 

Swallowing against the dryness in his throat, John slowly climbed over the edge of the roof almost as if he were on autopilot. 

The warm concrete felt cold against his flushed skin, as he traced random patterns in the dust. His heart was hammering madly against his ribcage, and he had no will to stop it. No urge. 

Seized by a sudden curiosity, he picked up the flask again, and hurled it over the ledge. In less than five seconds, it had disappeared into the sea of vehicles and pedestrians below. 

John sighed, shifting so that he was lying on his back, one arm dangling over the edge, before he closed his eyes. 

 _What makes me different from him?_ John wondered, the alcohol in his system increasing the numbness he felt, blurring the lines between curiosity and outright recklessness. _How come I had to live while he got to die? How is that fair?_

He lay there for a while, listening to the frantic irregular pulse that was his own heart. He didn't hear his phone ring nonstop for about ten minutes. He didn't hear the crash that resonated as Dorian kicked the door in, the panicked yells that were Valerie and another cop arguing. 

And he barely felt the gentle fingers at the side of his neck, taking his pulse. 

"John, can you hear me?" The DRN repeated urgently, but the detective was disassociating too fast to know or care. "Detective Stahl, I need an adrenaline shot!" He yelled, pulling John's unresponsive body to his own. "Now!" 

Valerie's MX obliged, and Dorian wasted no time plunging the needle into John's neck. 

The drug surged rapidly through him, setting his nerves on fire, and he struggled to sit up, but Dorian pushed him back down. 

"John, are you alright?" the DRN asked again, this time more desperately. "Talk to me." 

The detective blinked a couple of times before looking up at his partner. 

"What-" 

"Your vitals were really bad, so I called you but you didn't answer. We just found you lying on that ledge, completely unresponsive, so I gave you a shot of adrenaline."

"Great."

"Answer the question. Please. You're burning up and we might have to transfer you to a hospital if-" 

"I'm fine, I just.."

"You just what?" Dorian gently cupped his face, looking into John's eyes. 

"I just..need you." 

There was a moment of silence, broken only by Valerie ushering her MX and the second cop off the roof to give the two some privacy. 

"You need me" the DRN repeated. 

"Yeah, I need you. I thought I could do this myself but you're right, I can't." 

"See, that's how relationships work" Dorian told him in an attempt to sound like his usual snarky self. "You tell me the truth and I don't kick your ass for it." 

John sighed, leaning into his partner's touch as the haze from the vodka settled over him once more. 

"Yeah well, simplicity's a damn lie." 

"Next time you want to pull a stunt like this, a warning would be nice" the DRN admitted, helping John up slowly. "Deal?" 

"Deal." 

"Good. Now come on before they send up a SWAT team." 

 

 

 


End file.
